News Release

Artist and Faculty Member John Pomara To Serve
As Curator of Mixed-Media Exhibition at UTD

RICHARDSON, Texas (July 25, 2005 ) — Acclaimed artist and University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) faculty member John Pomara will serve as curator of space-invaders, a mixed-media exhibition that will be shown in the main gallery of UTD’s Visual Arts Building from Aug. 19 to Sept. 17. The exhibit will be held in conjunction with the Eugene Binder Gallery in Marfa, where space-invaders will be on display in October.

Pomara, an associate professor in UTD’s School of Arts & Humanities and a recent Dallas Center for Contemporary Art Legend Award winner, said the exhibition explores the current state and definition of “space.” Normally, paintings and photographs exist in the second dimension, while sculptures exist in the third . Many of the works in this exhibit, however, seem to exist in the second and third dimensions simultaneously, said Pomara.

From left: The paintings of Ed Blackburn's Congressmen Domenici and Tauzin after Energy Vote
and Karl Umlauf's Formation Series XXVIIIare among artwork to be featured in the space-invaders
exhibition set to open Aug. 19 on the UTD campus.

For example, he said, Karl Umlauf created vacuum-form paintings, which extend into the third dimension and challenge the definitions of “painting” and “sculpture.” John Ryan Moore refuses to give his brightly colored paintings even a hint of a frame and uses thin pieces of tape to connect his paintings to each other or to the floor. The paintings of Raychael Stine and Ed Blackburn are physically two dimensional, but the images seem to transcend a flat plane into the third dimension. Lily Hanson creates work from scraps of fabric that meld the second and third dimensions by moving from the wall to the floor and back. Cam Schopp's work also interacts with the wall and the floor, as his carpet “sculptures” appear to either climb the wall or fall from ceiling to floor. Pomara added that Tom Orr's installation piece consists of “stackable paintings” that invade "the space of the viewer," and he said Robert Flowers’ video relies on superimposed shapes and movement to establish the illusion of three dimensions.

An opening reception will be held Friday, Aug. 19, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Gallery hours are from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. The gallery is closed Sundays and university holidays.

For information about the many musical, arts, theatre, dance and other performances and exhibitions held throughout the year at UTD, please call 972-UTD-ARTS (972-883-2787), e-mail utdarts@utdallas.edu, or visit the School of Arts and Humanities’ Web site at http://ah.utdallas.edu/. Persons with disabilities needing special accommodations may call 972-883-2982, Texas Relay Operator: 1-800-RELAYVV.

About UTD

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls about 14,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu.